


we just deserve a happy ending please

by driftingashes



Series: Winter Violets Shorts [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Deceit | Janus Sanders Angst, Fae Deceit | Janus Sanders, Gen, Genderfluid Deceit | Janus Sanders, Mortality, Neopronouns, Non-Binary Morality | Patton Sanders
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:48:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24474547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driftingashes/pseuds/driftingashes
Summary: "Hello, little one."Virgil laughed. "I'm not so little anymore, am I?" he asked.Janus looked his friend over wistfully, remembering another time when they'd been just a foolish Faerie and a young human boy, both looking for a bit of fun in a boring, oppressive world. "You're not," he agreed, trying to keep the grief from his voice.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: Winter Violets Shorts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1764298
Comments: 11
Kudos: 58





	1. November 17th, 2078

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Romeo and Juliet" by Hobo Johnson.
> 
> Random fic because I can't stop thinking about how Virgil getting old is going to absolutely destroy Janus. This is not chronological with To the Waters or It’s Voyage. The idea wouldn't leave me alone, I'm so sorry.

"Hey, DeeDee," Virgil said happily, moving out of the treeline. Janus jerked, glancing up from where he'd been staring at the rippling river water.

"Hello, little one."

Virgil laughed. "I'm not so little anymore, am I?" he asked.

Janus looked his friend over wistfully, remembering another time when they'd been just a foolish Faerie and a young human boy, both looking for a bit of fun in a boring, oppressive world. "You're not," he agreed, trying to keep the grief from his voice. “Not in the way you were then. You're still short, though,” he couldn’t help but tease.

That drew a chuckle from the human, though he quickly turned serious again. "You know why I'm here?" he asked. He laughed, answering his own question before Janus could think of something to say. "Of course you do. You've always known when something's wrong."

He laughed again, this time a bit more manic and scared. A cough wracked his frame, and his legs gave way as he struggled to breathe. Janus was on his feet almost before Virgil started falling, arms wrapping around his boy and stabilizing him; he was frighteningly thin and light.

"I've got you, Virgil. You're safe here with me," he whispered. "I told you that nothing would hurt you as long as I was with you."

"This isn't something you can protect me from, Deedee," Virgil murmured. "You did your best, but you can't save me from time."

 _I can try,_ Janus tried to say tearfully, but she knew it was a lie, reinforced by her own frantic fear, and she couldn't force the words out. "I...dammit. Dammit! Why?" they screamed, pulling away from Virgil and slamming their fist into a tree trunk. It shivered from the force of the blow.

"Deedee," Virgil said softly, taking their hand into his own and gently running his fingers over the cuts on their knuckles. "You're hurting yourself. Don't do that. That won’t help anything.”

”I can’t save you,” she croaked. “You were my first real friend and I can’t even help you.”

Virgil laughed. “Deedee. Helping me and saving me are two completely different things. Saving me would mean doing the impossible. Not even you can cure cancer. But _helping_ me...you’ve already done that. Just by being my friend.”

 _But I can do more, I can save you,_ she longed to say, but the words wouldn’t come, forced down by a curse of veracity. ”But I wish I could do more,” she said instead. Her throat felt like it was packed with cotton from all the lies she wanted to tell her friend, little reassurances that in the end would be futile attempts at comfort anyways.

Virgil smiled. “I know. But you don’t need to. I'll be okay, Dee.”

”Janus,” she croaked, and Virgil’s smile froze in place.

”I beg your pardon?” he whispered, meeting their eyes.

Janus gulped. “My name is Janus Demetrius Fernhaven.”

”Why are you...telling me your name?" Virgil asked. He looked terrified for the answer, almost as if he'd prefer not to know why at all.

"Because you are my best friend," she replied simply. "I trust you with it."

"D-Janus. That's pretty. It sounds very...”

”Human,” Janus finished. “It sounds human.”

Virgil nodded. “Why?”

”My father. Was a human. It’s why I don’t live within the boundaries of my Court. They found out I was half human, something that should have been impossible.”

”I’m glad you’re here, regardless,” Virgil said, leaning his head on Janus’s shoulder. The motion yanked her roughly into a memory of Virgil sitting at her side by the lake, years and years ago now, leaning into her as the cool breeze ruffled their hair and chilled their skin.

Janus smiled. “Me too, kid. Me too.”

Virgil stiffened, tensing in preparation of another coughing fit, but his body was too weak, and he just slumped against Janus again, exhausted.

”I...if you really want me to, I can...”

”I know,” Virgil whispered. “Not yet. I want to see the sunrise.”

Janus looked up at the lightening sky and forced her tears back. Okay. We’ll...we can start again. With the sun.”

Virgil nodded wearily. “Don’ lemme miss ‘t,” he slurred.

”I won’t, love, I’ll wake you.”

”Th’n’s.”

Janus stroked Virgil’s hair, breaths hitching in a strange mix between a laugh and a sob. “You’re still just as small as the day I met you, somehow,” they whispered. “And I still love you just as much.”

_Virgil laughed as he spun around and around, his giggles high pitched and full of the kind of joy that only children possess._

_Janus had to smile, watching the boy twirling among the violets, carefree and laughing for the first time in...a very long time. Hyacinth glanced over at the child, huffing a small laugh._

_"You're acting very much like a worried mother hen," he chastised. "Let the boy play."_

_Janus glanced over at him. "Right. You're right. I just can't help but worry. Ever since Lark-"_

As promised, they woke Virgil as the sun crested over the top of the mountains, casting a brilliant golden halo around them. Janus almost cried out with relief when Virgil seemed stronger, getting to his feet by himself.

”Not yet?” they asked.

Virgil shook his head. “Not yet.”

”Not yet,” Janus repeated to themself that night, curling up under the hanging branches of the tree.

"Not yet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I....Janus Demetrius. JD. I'm listening to the Heather's soundtrack and I just-.....w o w. I swear I didn't mean to do that, but I just now realized. (If anyone here also read my fic 'Red Sky' you'll recognize Janus's middle name from there; I started the fic pre-SvS Redux and liked the name too much to change it. Aaaaand I've always liked the name for Deceit anyways, so I do recycle it quite a bit.


	2. Chapter 2

"Janus?" Virgil croaked.

Janus jerked upright, abandoning the butterfly she had been watching and hurrying over to her friend. "Anxiety? Are you alright?"

The boy (yet he wasn't a boy, not anymore, and hadn't been for a very long time) stared up at her with a pained smile. His face was pale, and dark circles under his eyes looked so dark it could have been charcoal rubbed on his skin, but even clouded with pain, his eyes were that same startlingly bright green that had peeered out at her from the bushes the first time they met.

Gods but that day seemed ages ago now, comparing the little boy in her memories to the adult before her now.

"Jan?" Virgil asked, ripping her from her thoughts. "It's time. Please. I...I want to see my siblings again."

Janus immediately choked back tears. "Are you sure?"

Virgil nodded. "I've been ready for a long time. I just couldn't bring myself to leave you yet. I needed you, and I think you needed me too."

 _I **still** need you,_ she almost said, but...but that wasn't quite fair, was it? Virgil's mortal body was old, and sick. And if there was one thing Janus hated to watch, it was her family being in pain.

"Okay," they whispered. "As long as you're sure." "Tell me...tell me your name."

"My name is Virgil Kira Avil."

"Avil," Janus repeated. "That means 'new beginnings.' You...yours spirit will live on with us, Virgil. You will not be forgotten."

Virgil smiled. "I love you, Janus."

Janus shivered at the weight their true name put on the words. "I love you too, my little starshine." They leaned in, pressing a kiss to Virgil's forhead. "Virgil Kira Anxiety Avil...rest now. Be at peace."

They lay on the grass, watching the glimmers of Virgil's soul rise into the crisp air, and closed their eyes.

"Virgil," they whispered. "A lovely name."

"It is done, then?" Morrality whispered when they stumbled in the door.

"The boy is gone," she croaked, and xe immediately stumbled forward to yank her into an embrace. Xyr tears quickly soaked Janus' shoulder, but she did not pull away. "I never wanted to do that. To anyone. But he was in pain," Janus whispered. "I could not bear it, and he was miserable. Longing for the pain to end and homesick for his mortal siblings. I could not bear it, before God I only wanted to end his suffering and free his soul from his struggle."

"He is at peace," Morrality soothed, xyr hand coming up to smooth over Janus' rain-soaked hair. "He is at peace, dearest sibling. You would not have if he had nor asked it of you."

"But the act...I have taken a life."

Morality shook xyr head. "No. You have freed one," xe corrected gently. "He was unhappy, and you allowed him to return home."

"Mor, I-"

"Patton," Morality interjected quietly. "You may use it as you wish," xe said gently at Janus's dumbfounded stare.

"Patton, then," she tried hesitantly. "Patton, what if I have taken the wrong path?"

"The right path is not always the easiest. You have helped Virgil more than we may ever know. He was in pain and you released him of the burden of enduring it. His soul and his heart are grateful."

"We shall see him again someday?" Janus asked.

Patton smiled. "Yes, I believe we shall."


End file.
